Convergence -
It's all the buzz in communications, but defining the blending of networks, devices, and services is a tough call.
By Mary Lou Jay
Technology experts seem to agree on one thing: The convergence of communications platforms and devices in the next decade or so will give people
access to whatever services they want, wherever and whenever they desire. What the experts don’t agree on is exactly what form those services will take, how they will be delivered, and who will provide them.
Part of the uncertainty stems from the difficulty of settling on a common definition of convergence. It is a multi-layered concept. First, convergence involves a different way of thinking about platforms and services as providers traditionally associated with one type of service offer new options to their customers (wireless companies offering broadband access or cable companies providing local dial tones, for example). Convergence also involves a closer alignment of providers of content and providers of IP access (like a wireless company or DSL provider partnering with a Google or a Yahoo) so that consumers can interact with similar content and services across a number of different devices and connections. In addition, convergence includes new devices with phones, cameras, music players, and computers combined into one portable package.
“Taken in a broad context, convergence refers to the integration of computers, communications, and consumer electronics devices in a manner that blurs what previously were distinctions between various types of media in order to deliver anytime, anywhere media,” says Tammy Parker, principal analyst, North
America, Informa Telecom & Media. “At the heart of the convergence concept is the idea of convenience, wherein end users can access their desired media wherever they are using the most appropriate device for their location.”
“Convergence means basically that information becomes access agnostic,” adds Roger Entner, vice president of wireless telecoms for Ovum. “It doesn’t matter how you access it. You can listen to your voice mail on your computer, watch TV on your handheld, and send text messages with your landline phone.”
Early days
In the future converged world imagined by the technology gurus, consumers will have almost uninterrupted access to services with more choices of connection than ever before. “One vision of convergence is that it would allow me to start watching a TV show at home on my plasma TV, stop watching in order to get ready to leave the house, and then continue watching that same show again from the same point I stopped, on demand, on my mobile while I sit in the airport or wherever. I will also be able to program my DVR to record shows at home while I’m on the road. Maybe those shows could even be streamed to my handset on demand if I want to view them before I get back home,” adds Parker.
Listen to CTIA’s Mark Desautels &
TNS Telecom’s Charles White
discuss convergence & the bright
possibilities for the future in
CTIA's Wireless "Convergence"
Podcast.
